The Aftermath
by rainydog
Summary: Spoilers for the season 1 finale of Riverdale Fred Andrews is shot and dying on the floor of Pop's Diner, so Archie calls on Jughead to help him get through it. The investigation of the shooting is aided by unlikely allies and leads to a shocking discovery that questions the innocence of those closest.
1. Nothing but Trouble

Jughead took a long look at all the Serpents who'd come to give him the jacket he just pulled over his shoulders.

"Your father's doing a lot for us by sacrificing himself, the least we could do for him is to make sure his son has people he can count on." One of the Serpents told Jughead before he dismissed the other Serpents, and walked up to the front of Jughead's trailer. Betty watched on, helpless, as the Serpent put his arm around Jughead and pulled him in to tell him something that Betty was unable to hear; she wasn't sure it was something she would've wanted to hear, either, but her experiences had taught her that secrets were more dangerous than anything else. Betty's face fell for a moment when she saw the Serpent and Jughead smile at each other, have a connection with each other, she had so desperately hoped that Jughead would turn all of them away and to return the jacket, but now she feared he would end up like his father. She watched on from behind a mostly closed door, and she dug her nails into the side of wooden door frame; Betty sighed, but did her best to not look disappointed or scared when Jughead walked back into the trailer, though he hardly seemed to notice her. He walked into the center of the living room and the dim lighting obscured his face so much that, if Betty hadn't already known it was Jughead, she would've assumed that he was and always had been a Southside Serpent.

"I can't believe it." Jughead said, the elation in his voice increasing Betty's nervousness.

"I can't either." Betty said quietly enough that Jughead didn't hear her, her eyes still fixated on his jacket.

"My dad was loyal to them Betty, _loyal_. And not only that, but he's also sober! Sure, he's in jail, but he made a sacrifice for them." He said and turned around and put his hands on Betty's shoulders. "Betts, I think he's really going to change." He finished as Betty nodded slightly, not sure what to say to Jughead. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned in to tell her something, but was interrupted when his phone rang.

"You should check that, it might be important." Betty told him, she might have stopped him earlier, but that was before he took the jacket, before he became a Southside Serpent. He reached into his pocket and was excited to see that Archie was calling him, he wanted so badly to tell him what had happened and hoped Archie would share in the excitement of what this meant for FP.

"What's up, Archie?" Jughead asked, leaning casually against a closet. Betty continued to scan her eyes over the jacket, which looked pristine in the trailer's lighting. Jughead waited a few moments before asking "Archie, you there?" Jughead stiffened when he heard Archie's shaky and irregular breathing on the other side of the line.

"Jughead." Archie murmured breathlessly.

"Archie, are you okay? What happened?" He questioned while trying to minimize the panicked sound of his voice. He normally wouldn't have acted or felt so panicked, but with everything that had just gone down, he suspected something terrible must've happened. Betty came over and put her hand on Jughead's arm, she looked up at the side of his face to try to understand what was going on.

"Oh my god, Jughead...my dad…" Archie struggled, Jughead held his breath, waiting for Archie to keep talking. "He got shot." Archie said in what sounded like a moan. Jughead inhaled sharply and almost dropped his cell phone as Betty gasped, taking a step backwards in shock.

"We'll be right there Archie!" Jughead said quickly as he and Betty moved for the door.

"No! Just you, Jughead...please." Archie begged. Jughead looked at Betty who nodded; she let Jughead's arm slip out of her hand as he rushed out the door.

"Alright, alright, just me. Where are you?" He asked as he got in the driver's seat of his car and searched through his pockets for his car keys.

"Pop's." Archie replied after a few long, deep breaths. The car engine started up and Jughead pulled aggressively out into the road.

"I'll be right there, Archie." Jughead assured him. The sounds of sirens approaching could be heard coming from Archie's line. "Why did you want me to come along?" He asked making his voice softer and less intense so he wouldn't further distress Archie, Jughead wasn't really concerned with why, he was more concerned with how Archie was doing, but wanted to keep Archie talking.

"I-I just don't need everyone here at once." Archie confessed. Jughead swallowed hard when he heard Archie's voice breaking.

"Don't worry Archie, don't worry." He said desperately trying to keep his emotions at bay; Jughead swallowed hard when he heard Archie's voice breaking, and was reminded of how good Archie's father was to him, how much like a father Fred had been for him when FP wasn't sober and disappeared for any number of days. "Archie, I'm here." He said bracing himself as he swung the car into the parking lot and came to a screeching halt that grabbed Archie's attention. Jughead ended the phone call and tossed his cell phone into the passenger seat as he climbed out of his car. Archie was sitting on a bench outside the diner; his shirt and the right arm of his jacket were stained with vibrant, fresh blood.

"Archie!" Jughead yelled as he ran over to meet him. Archie was just lifting his head out of his hands and Jughead froze for a moment when he realized the blood on Archie's hands was now on parts of his face. Jughead removed his beanie and pressed some clean, white snow onto it. "Here," he said using his hat as a cloth to clean the blood from Archie's face, "let's get that off." Jughead finished, too nervous and shaken to say the word 'blood.' Archie's whole body was completely tight and he closed his eyes as a single tear escaped down his face. When he opened his eyes, he could see the redness around Jughead's eyes, which he had cast downwards; while Archie know his own pain exceeded that of Jughead's he also knew they had a shared pain because Jughead had thought of Fred as someone he could count on.

"Jughead," Archie said, "please look at me." He pleaded and Jughead lifted his gaze to meet Archie's. The understanding and connection between the two was palpable and they wrapped their arms around each other, like brothers. Jughead didn't care at all that the blood was being smeared over his Southside Serpent jacket, and neither of them cared that they were sitting in the freezing cold as a soft, sweet snowfall began to coat the trees.

Sheriff Keller emerged with one of the EMTs and walked towards the two boys, who separated to hear what happened; he squatted down in front of them and put one hand on each of their shoulders so he could look them in the eye. "Let's talk."


	2. The Hospital

Archie scarcely breathed when he saw the door open and his father being taken out to the ambulance on a stretcher. He moved a hand through his hair nervously causing the blood to blend into his red hair; Sheriff Keller glanced away for a moment, he couldn't imagine how horrible this was for Archie-there wasn't anything in the world that could prepare him to see the blood soaked bandage wrapped around his father's abdomen.

"Archie." Sheriff Keller said to draw Archie's attention away from the distressing sight. "Your father lost a lot of blood, and the bullet's still inside him, _but_ we got the bleeding to stop and we're taking him to Mother Mary's Memorial Hospital." He explained, but Archie didn't seem to comprehend, or even notice, what Keller was saying. The sheriff looked at him sadly, even with everything had happened in Riverdale, none of them could believe something so horrible could happen-the innocence of the town was completely lost and a dark shadow would be forever cast over the town. "Do you want to go with the ambulance to the hospital?" He asked, and it pleased him when Archie nodded and he and an EMT started over towards the ambulance.

"Jughead, now might be a good time to get the others." Archie said, turning around to take one last look at his friend before he disappeared inside in the ambulance.

"I can have someone pick up your friends." The sheriff told Jughead. "You have enough to worry about." He finished, placing a hand on Jughead's shoulder and began to walk back towards Pop's to investigate the crime.

"I'll pick up Betty." Jughead said, not moving and staring out at the road.

"Alright, I'll have the others sent to the hospital." Keller said softly and the bell on the diner's door jingled lightly as the sheriff went inside. It felt strange to Jughead for Sheriff Keller to treat him so considerately and kindly, especially considering how he had accused both Jughead and his father of the murder of Jason Blossom, and was the reason his father was behind bars. Though, Jughead welcomed the odd comfort he got from it and moved slowly to his car; he looked down at his left hand to see he was still holding his bloody beanie. He stared at his clenched fist and imagined letting the hat fall into the slushy parking lot, just another discarded glove or shoe on the side of the highway, but he couldn't; his hand felt frozen to the hat, the blood was drying and it formed a dark red crust on his palm. He slipped into the driver's seat and stared blankly through the light dusting of snow on the windshield to Pop's Diner; _that place will never be the same_ he thought to himself. If the diner still stood in ten years, he could practically hear the conversations between the teens going to the High School as they sat in the booth he and everyone else sat in talking about the shooting, but no one would stop to think about the lives that were ruined both before and after all the secrets at Riverdale unraveled, after Fred Andrews died. Jughead was instantly disgusted with himself for even thinking that Mr. Andrews could die. He dug his teeth so deeply into one part of his lip that a bit of blood began to well up around the spot, but he ripped off a piece of paper from a new issue of The Blue and Gold and pressed it to the cut. An issue that they would never be able to publish, he looked down at the large, bold headline: **Jason Blossom's Murder Solved, Riverdale Finally at Peace**. Jughead took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself as he pulled out into the road, but all it seemed to do was make him more aware of the growing lump in his throat.

"He's not dead, he's not dead. He'll live. He's going to be." He began saying to himself, but he failed to assure himself of anything. He started repeating them again, but was interrupted by the sound of his phone buzzing in the passenger seat. _Betty_ , Jughead thought, he left her at his trailer all alone to wonder what happened.

"Betty." He said, his voice sounded hoarse as he struggled to pass the sound over the lump in his throat.

"What happened? Oh god, Jughead. What happened?" She asked, her voice was full of emotion and it was obvious that she'd been crying. Jughead felt his breath catch and he pulled over to the side of the road.

"They took him to the hospital." He answered, a few tears slipped down his face and he squeezed his eyes shut trying to will them away. "I'm coming to get you Betts." He told her, doing his best to mask the pain in his voice.

"I'm here Jughead. I'm here." She said, hoping that, by knowing he had someone who loved him, she was consoling him.

"I'll be there soon." He choked out. Jughead hung up the phone and looked around him to see that nothing around him had changed-the snow was still falling lightly and the cars to the left of him drove by as if nothing had happened. Jughead's pulse quickened as he pulled his car back out into the road and he suddenly realized that he was _terrified_ ; he'd been scared, shocked, stunned, and nauseated when he saw Mr. Blossom shoot his own son, but he hadn't felt terrified.

Betty was already waiting for Jughead when he pulled out infront of his trailer and she rushed over to the car and opened up the driver's side door.

"Do you want me to drive?" She asked.

"No, that's okay." He responded quietly, Betty put her hand on the side of his face so he could look into her eyes. Jughead slid over into the passenger's seat so Betty could take over as driver, he hardly realized how numb he was until Betty asked him a question that he hardly heard.

"Jughead, I asked which hospital he's at." She said, and Jughead blinked when he realized Betty had already pulled the car out into the road.

"Oh, Mother Mary's." He said, his eyes focused on the cracks in the road. Betty placed her hand over Jughead's, she thought of what she could say to help him, but when she could think of nothing, she supposed it might be better to just hold his hand to let him know that she's going to be there for him. The ride to the hospital felt long without the music they usually played on the radio, but neither of them were in the mood to listen to the disc jockeys speak optimistically about the upcoming hockey game or play a fast paced song about drugs and sex.

One thing Betty hadn't thought of was parking, she pulled quickly into lot and parked illegally as she and Jughead left the car running and sprinted into the hospital's entrance. Panicked and out of breath, Betty pressed her hands on the counter of the nurse's station.

"Are you alright?" One of the nurses asked, shocked and concerned by the disheveled appearance of the two teens.

"We're looking for someone." She explained gasping for breath between words.

"Who?" The nurse asked. Betty closed her eyes for a second, she could hardly think long enough to remember name.

"Archie and Fred Andrews." Jughead said from behind her and Betty took her hands off the nurse's station and took a few steps backwards to Jughead.

"Fred Andrews was just admitted into the ER with critical injuries." The nurse said after scanning through her computer. "The ER's on floor 4, there's a waiting room there, you two can go up there." She said looking up at them as they dashed over to the elevator. Jughead pushed and held the 'up' button, he used to make fun of the people in movies who did that, but he finally understood their desperation, the adrenaline that was building up inside them. After only a few seconds, Jughead turned to Betty and told her the elevator was taking too long and they should take the stairwell. She grabbed onto his hand as the two of them pulled each other up the tight concrete steps; they pushed open the door with a large '4' painted on it in a dull purple color.

Archie and Veronica were seated on a long bench in the waiting room, Veronica had both her arms wrapped around Archie has he rested his head on her shoulder; Veronica looked up at Jughead and Betty sadly and gestured them over. They walked up slowly, hand in hand and took a seat next to Archie and Veronica; Betty gently ran her hand through Archie's hair and lifted his head to look at her.

"Thanks for coming." He said quietly.

"We'll always be there for you, Archie." She told him. Archie looked back at Veronica.

"I'm going to get some water." He said, getting up and trying to walk as normally as he could, but his shoulders were still hunched and his eyes were still focused on the ground. The three remained seated in silence and watched as Archie turned the corner into an adjacent hallway.

"What do you know?" Betty asked cautiously.

"Not much, he's in surgery right now." Veronica sighed and shook her head. "We really don't know what's going on." She finished. Betty leaned back against the wall and Archie returned from the water fountain; they were all slumped against the wall and staring out vacantly at nothing. The adrenaline was settling and if they had not been so nervous, then perhaps they could've fallen asleep, it was all waiting game now. Jughead kept imagining what the operating room looked like, what Fred Andrews looked like on the table with a tube down his throat and surgeons standing over him dabbing blood and handing out scalpels; he tried counting the linoleum tiles on the floor, but the image of Mr. Andrews refused to leave his mind. An hour must have passed before a nurse came up to them and told him that his father had survived the first operation, but was scheduled for a second one shortly.

"Can I see him?" Archie asked, the nurse told him he could, but it would have to be quick and only family was allowed.

"I love you, Archie." Veronica said squeezing his hand, he held onto her hand tightly and smiled at her slightly as he walked down the hall with the nurse. Archie walked into his father's room, it seemed darker than it was and Archie stood next to his bed; he almost reached out to touch his hand, but he couldn't imagine touching his father's limp hand.

"I just wanted to let you...I lo-" He began, but was cut off by the sound of rapid beeping. Archie jumped backwards in surprise and fear, a doctor and two nurses rushed into the room and one took Archie by the arm and pulled him out into the hallway.


End file.
